Royal Enfield To Develop New Motorcycles For Women And Younger Audience

The new motorcycles will be light on the pocket as well!

• The new range of motorcycles could be sold under the ‘Explorer’ brand.  
• The upcoming motorcycles will offer a lower seat height compared to the standard variants.  
• Royal Enfield is also planning to launch the new-gen Classic 350 and the Thunderbird 350 X next year.

One of the first things that run into your mind while buying a Royal Enfield is the sheer weight of these machines. But after years of building motorcycles, the Chennai-based manufacturer is now planning to address this problem by launching a new line of products aimed at a younger audience as well as women riders. 

That’s right, Royal Enfield is planning to launch new lightweight motorcycles with a lower seat height. Will RE come up with a brand new platform? Well, we don’t know that yet, but we can expect the brand to heavily tweak its existing lineup to meet the new demand. Currently, around 7 per cent of Royal Enfield’s total buyers are women. Yes, this number isn’t huge, but it is expected to increase in the future, so catering to these new buyers makes sense for the company. 

According to the report, women prefer either the Himalayan or the Thunderbird 350 X. Interestingly, a test mule of the BS6-compliant Himalayan was spotted a few days back, and surprisingly, it was shod with a 19-inch wheel at the front instead of 21-inchers. Equipping the Himalayan with a smaller front wheel will tweak the handling a bit, but most importantly, it lowers the seat height. So has Royal Enfield begun testing these new motorcycles? Well, we have to wait and see for another test mule to make an appearance to know for sure. 

The new platform is internally called J1C and Royal Enfield could launch one new motorcycle by the first half of 2020. Expect the upcoming variants from Royal Enfield to be priced around Rs 1.10 lakh to Rs 1.20 lakh (ex-showroom). Not only will these motorcycles help the manufacturer attract new customers, but it will also help it to increase its dwindling sales figures. Moreover, Royal Enfield has also brought affordable variants of the Bullet 350 and the Classic 350 to boost its sales. 

Apart from this, Royal Enfield also has a range of new and updated motorcycles lined up for 2020. These include the new Classic 350 and the Thunderbird 350 X. Meanwhile, the rest of the lineup will be updated with new and greener BS6-compliant engines.

Source